Pink pearl eraser

Every city

This is something that every school child has used. It is a symbol of the ability to recreate yourself which is core to America and has become more and more common. Although we love Ina digital age the pink pearl is still relevant and used by my own children. It is an American Icon.

Nathan

Purple Rain

Minneapolis, MN

a) It is a movie an entire generation knows.
b) It is a song an entire generation knows.
c) It is a music video from the heyday of music videos & MTV.
d) It epitomizes 80's culture and does so across ethnic lines.
e) Prince is a legend himself.
f) First Avenue (the club) still exists and is still well known.
g) Many other Prince songs are internationally known as well, and fortifies this particular song/movie.

Andrew

Portlandia Staute on Portland Building

Portland, Oregon

Maybe I just wish it could be an Icon-like the Statue of Liberty reaching out to give succor or inspiration to all who pass by.

Sharon

Psycho (Hitchock)

Hollywood, CA

Everything about this dark masterpiece broke new ground. Our protagonist, the girl-next-door Marion Crane, is murdered 20 minutes int the film. Then we transfer our identification to Norman Bates - an iconic antihero the likes of which had not been seen on film. Hitchcock's hands-on marketing was brilliant. Pyscho happens to be as terrifying today as it was in 1960.

Brian

The Mothman

Point Pleasant, WV

The Mothman is king of all urban legends. This transdimensional creature has repeatedly warned the people of Point Pleasant, WV of imminent doom. Its red glowing eyes and huge white wings have inspired several films, books and even an episode of The X-files. Truth finders flock to Point Pleasant ever year to visit the Mothman Museum, the Mothman Festival and other Mothman themed events. Some even visit with the hopes of seeing the Mothman itself.

Craig

Joseph Rayback

State College, PA

Joseph Rayback is a the author of one of the most complete histories of American labor unions (History of American Labor) from colonial days until the 1960's. He presents the case on the climb to the zenith of the labor unions early in the 20's century and shows how hard we have to work to get it back.

Chuck

Alabama Hills, Mt Whitney

Lone Pine, CA

Old West Film History.

Rana

Maus

New York, New York

Maus is a pulitzer prize winning graphic novel (the only to date) by Art Spiegelman. It's an American icon because it's not just about a holocaust survivor, it's the story of that survivor's son, and his journey to tell his father's story.

More than that, it came out of an artistic movement of the late 70s and early 80s of underground comics, and it's the crowing achievement of that period.

jason

A Confederacy of Dunces

New Orleans, LA

The story behind this book is amazing, not to take away from the book itself which is just remarkable. Since its release there have been nearly a dozen attempts at getting a movie made out of it. Both the author and the book capture a slice of America.

Mike

Old Air Traffic Control Tower at LAX

Los Angeles, CA

This icon greeted me when I first visited LA (on the '70s) as a green-card holder from Canada. I had lived in Philly before, and visited many place in the Northeast, but even New York is not that different from big Canadian cities like Toronto (formerly Yorktown). But LA was totally different - THIS is the USA was what I thought seeing the control tower. Right out of the Jetsons.

Preston

Route US 66

Chicago to LA

Name a more iconic thing in America.

Devan

the whaling ship, "Charles W. Morgan" and Mystic Seaport

Mystic, Connecticut

The Charles w. Morgan is the last floating American whaling ship. It and Mystic Seaport embody the skill and livelihood of our maritime experience, especially that which hunted and produced America's energy in its first century.

Brian Donohue

Coca-Cola

Atlanta, GA

The history of Coca-Cola is the history of America since 1886, when Doc Pemberton invented it. Wherever Americans went, in war and peace, a Coke bottle (and bottling plant) was sure to follow. We owe our modern image of Santa Claus to Coke. The 6 1/2-ounce bottle is itself iconic. The story has hubris (New Coke), tragedy (New Coke), and now controversy, with attempts to ban large sodas. (Coke may add to the obesity epidemic but probably isn't as lethal at tobacco. Discuss.) See Mark Pendergrast's exhaustive "For God, Country & Coca-Cola," also "The Big Drink" from 1959.

Dave

Batman

Gotham City

Superman is the superhero of yesterday's America, but Batman is the superhero to study today. We know we're no longer inherently all-powerful. Today's superpowers are money, technology, and the struggle of whether they're actually needed.

Matt

Gordon Gekko

New York, NY

Gordon Gekko personifies the American Dream, for better and for worse, with his ends to wealth and status justifying his means. For thousands, he remains the beacon of Wall Street. He actually inspired me to go into government instead of banking, despite being an econ major with an MBA.

Dana

rudolph the red nosed reindeer

north pole

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was the first million seller recording of all time. Hecky Krasnow produced it for Columbia records. In Rudolph, Frosty and Captain Kangaroo by Judy Gail Krasnow, the back store is revealed.

Every child knows its words. Every outsider understands its message of wanting to be accepted. It is the immigrants story.

Jerome

To Kill A Mockingbird

Monroeville Alabama

Few books address some of the critical issues of race and class as seen through the eyes of child. The main character of the book Atticus Finch summarizes all that is good in America as he seeks to combat all that is bad.

Marshall

The Star Wars Trilogy (first 3 movies)

In a galaxy far, far away

I grew up with Star Wars; it was a defining film series for MY generation. But kids ever since, all over the world, have been captivated by its story and imagination. My nephew (now age 10) doesn't care about the 1977 special effects - he's as obsessed as my brother was; the movies (and books and toys, Legos especially) are defining his childhood as well. Decades later, Star Wars is still alive in children's minds - an American icon of possibility & imagination. (Exhibit A: Star Wars coloring book page, free online....)

Claire

Mondo 2000

San Francisco

R.U. Sirius, Jude Milhon and Rudy Rucker, published the magazine Mondo 2000 in the late 1980s and early 1990s, spreading wildly cyberdelic forecasts about mixed reality modalities to a readership of over 100,000 . With articles featuring musicians such as The Residents, Laurie Anderson, and Brian Eno, the magazine was successfully able to bridge the gap between tech culture and the counterculture, forever changing the American mindscape.

Drew

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Los Angeles, CA

America is defined by toons, and people around the world enjoy American exaggerations of reality. Its this elastic expression that attracts the World's eyes towards hollywood.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit also tells the underlying story of Los Angeles as corrupt decisions sculpted major infrastructure and highway engineering efforts.

Drew